salokcinnodrog

Another way of adding cork to the rig is simply to fish it as the top bit on a snowman or as one of a series of baits in a stack rig. Tim Paisley had a series of Big Winter Carp on his stack rig which I seem to think was 3 10mm boilies on the hair with a corkball being 2nd from the top.

The latest fashion item as publicised by the magazines. In the majority of cases you are far better using a standard rig rather than following fashion. If everyone is doing the same KD rig, then it will seem to be catching loads of fish, yet the truth is that if everyone all fished a standard line aligner, or a knotless knotted rig and the same number of fish were caught, then each would show themselves to be as effective as the KD rig. Is a 'standard line aligner' a simple a rig as the 'KD'? I suppose having to add a piece of silicon or shrink tubing makes it slightly more complicated than a slightly modified knotless knot

The latest fashion item as publicised by the magazines. In the majority of cases you are far better using a standard rig rather than following fashion. If everyone is doing the same KD rig, then it will seem to be catching loads of fish, yet the truth is that if everyone all fished a standard line aligner, or a knotless knotted rig and the same number of fish were caught, then each would show themselves to be as effective as the KD rig.

I always look on pop-up rigs as for fish that PICK UP the hookbait (Please note, MY view, not necessarily always correct ). You can make any standard rig a pop-up rig, simply by attaching a pop-up hookbait and adding a piece of putty, shot or sinker to hold it down. In fact, you can use any hi-viz or hi-attract pop-up bait as a bottom bait, depending on how and where you add the putty! One of the most effective pop-up rigs I found was simply a D-rig tied on whatever hooklink material. At the end of the day, YOU have to find out what works for you, be it a standard rig or an adaptation. Here is a thread with a few pics or ideas for you to think about: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185

Since I don't use "corked" or "foamed" hookbaits at the moment, here is some thinking for you. If you drill a boilie out all the way through and add a piece of foam or cork for buoyancy, then you will likely add it onto the hair with the foam or cork at 90degrees to the hook, showing out the side. In that position it will lift the hookbait and hook consistently, it will not be at any funny angles. Now go to a partially drilled bait with foam or cork added. If you do it so the drilled and filled bit is pointing at the hook, again, it will give a direct lift upwards. Have the cork at the top, towards the surface, it would also give a direct lift upwards, however you have the risk of the buoyancy of the cork/foam pulling the plug out of the bait. If you change the angle to the sides, then it as if lifts will tilt the hookbait over, probably at a slight angle to the hook.

I can give you a nudge in the right direction with the ingredients from the Enervite blurb from Nutrabaits.net: The full list of ingredients is something along the lines of: Full Fat Soya Flour Liver Powder Equivite Sodium Caseinate Wholemeal Semolina Robin Red Softbill Brewers Yeast Mixed Spices Equivite, if you don't know, is a Horse Feed supplement, and Softbill is another Birdfood. If you can't get hold of that in Australia, here is another page with the ingredients on it: http://www.gardenbird.co.uk/Ultiva-Softbill-Mix/Bird-Food/GBAR02,default,pd.html Hope that helps, not that I ever worked out how to try to save money on bait making or anything myself

Don't know if it is the answer that Ali Hamidi used, but instead of putting your rig on, use a Breakaway Spinlink attached to the swivel at the end of the mainline and attach the spod to that. Then when you have finished using the Pocket Rocket attach the lead and rig as you would usually

I've been using hooklink braids for absolutely years, since the days of Dacron with very few problems and can't ever recall damaging the mouth of a fish. I did actually do some tests with some braids which after testing I felt were too thin to use for fishing, and they were the Drennan Carp Super Specialist braids. I managed to knock over my workbench in the shed one day and left myself with a nasty cut on the hand from holding the braid attached to a hook in the vice on the workbench. As a result I decided to play around with other braids as well. The braids that are sold as Mainline braids often have a Kevlar weave, and so can and will cause damage to the fishes mouth, yet the majority of specialist hooklink braids don't, especially the Kryston range in the heavier strains from 12lb upwards. I felt that the 6,8 and 10lb versions were a bit risky for a hooklink, although as a hair material Also if you use a coated braid, then the coating can be removed near the hook, but leave the majority of the coating on, so that it is protected against damaging the carps mouth and cheeks during playing

No, the hooklink material sounds like a piece of junk I refuse to use Hybrid after I saw a mate have it fail a number of times, no reason, just gave way at the (recommended) knot to swivel or quicklink or the hook. Korda claim that they have sorted the problem, but I just won't use it, especially as many others have said the same thing, and even DF has said that he has had problems with people returning it. The hooklink materials I use are Kryston Mantis, Merlin, Snakebite, Jackal, SuperSilk (not recently) and Amnesia. I have never had any of them fail, so I have NO need to try anything else Each of them works with the "improved" loop knot shown in the Kryston packing and/or the Uni knot. With the improved loop knot though, be aware that even the layered coating of the coated braids will eventually start to break and come away

The Palomar is one of the few knots that is 100% efficient, but the blood knot is pretty bad in terms of breakage and efficiency in many hooklink materials or mainlines. It is a strangulation knot, and can cut through itself when under pressure. The blood knot is the first knot I used when tying hooks and swivels to mono, and even as a child I used to notice the occasional unexplained breakage from it. Also for tying hooks on it is NOT as tidy as a Uni knot or even knotless or whipping knot, especially if you use the hooklink as a continuation to form the hair. The only material I feel comfortable using a blood knot on is Amnesia for my marker rod boom and leader, although it is rated best for some fluorocarbons, but do lighter blob the tag end to stop it pulling through With a Uni knot in mono or coated and uncoated braids I have not had a breakage unless I have had to pull for a break. In fact I have actually had the combi link knot or braid break before the swivel loop knot in Amnesia.

What is the hooklink material? Fluorocarbons work better with other knots to those that work with mono, braids or coated braids Since I rarely or even never use fluoros I nearly always use the Uni knot for all my fishing to swivels

Somebody hold me back Just keep it simple, it isn't about rigs, its about location, getting the carp feeding and then putting a standard rig where they will feel comfortable taking it. A whole thread on rigs: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185

I knew that there was a reason I dislike lead clips. They do NOT give the best answer to fishing, yet down to over marketing they are seen as the be all and end all. It can be a lead clip that due to angler error (not even intentionally), the tail rubber being pushed on a tad too far, the lug not being trimmed back, or the clip itself becoming jammed with weed, and the fish is being played with half a ton of weed, and a lead that is halfway up the line, leading to the whole lot being lost. I much prefer Inline set-ups in weed; Very little weed actually hangs up on an Inline Distance lead, instead masking the hook or fish on the retrieve, making it a whole lot easier to get everything in. The other option is to go to a set-up that is GUARANTEED to lose the lead, not what is sold as being likely to lose it. Attach the lead to a John Roberts bead semi- fixed onto the mainline to hooklink swivel with a paperclip or tie the lead on with a piece of 3 or 4lb mono, or use the proper clips provided and cut the lug at the (mainline side) top so that the lead can be ejected. These clips while not being designed exclusively as the current Lead clips are, worked well and anglers KNEW that they would have to adapt them.

Mainline straight through? Works for me http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=32598

It is not all down to lead size or test curve of the rod. A good casting technique, a 2.25lb TC rod with the right size reel, 2.5 or 3oz lead, 8lb line and a shockleader can put a bait well over 100metres. What do you currently have in terms of gear? A cheap or budget 3lb rod may not cast as well as a good quality (admittedly more expensive) manufactured 2.75 or even 2.5lb TC rod I can make a tangle free rig (guaranteed) with no tubing for long distance casting, and that is using a long or short braided hooklink, with either a Helicopter style set-up, or Pendant, Running or Semi-Fixed.

Mono Mainline is extremely unlikely to damage a fish while playing it. The only real reasons to use tubing is to prevent tangles and to provide some protection against rubbing on gravel bars and snags. If you can get away without using it then don't. If you are using it to prevent tangles then about 5cms longer than your rig works.

Here is something for you with fluorocarbon: When fluoro is fished over gravel then the reflection of light back from the bottom can make it glow (re Rob Hughes Carpology and Ian Russel lakebed test), yet over weed it does not reflect back that light. I had a feeling a few years ago that this was the case and so it may affect results. ( http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=25537&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25 And before I started avoiding leadcore totally: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=16818&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75

As in tie a knot in it

Simples You actually reduce the risk of one of your problems as well Find a knot that you are comfortable tying in fluorocarbon, and tie the hook on properly. Then using the fine piece of braid tie a hair onto the eye of the hook, maybe using a small piece of tubing to position the perfect exit point from the hook, shank or bend dependant on what you want (the back of the shank gives better hooking potential re Andy Little). You can cover the hookeye and knots with either shrink tubing or fine silicon tubing. My comment about the reducing a potential problem, the out turn on many eyes means that with a knotless knot it has a weakspot that the rubbing of the hook may eventually cause to break. Also if you do find that with a knotless knot, then actually coming out of the back of the eye with the knotless knot reduces both the overturning and reduces the risk of the rubbing breaking the hooklink.

In the Rig Tying Stickies section there are some rig pics, on that thread I have attached a picture of the Kryston Loop knot http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=22185

The rubber hook beads work best when stopping the ring from sliding down to the hookpoint and bend The extra ring on the hook is to stop the doubled over length pulling back on itself and going through the eye if the eye is slightly open at the join as well as it getting caught in the eye as Zander said I think you will find. I very rarely create a join on a hooklink other than combi-rigs, where I want a stiff boom section and a braided hooksection. Play with the lengths for it to work best. I know Moorsey swears blind with a short braided section, about the length of the hookshank (ask him, its his thinking ), whereas I prefer a longer section, between 3 and 5cms long tied to Amnesia. I also use mostly bottom baits or snowman set-ups, so I think that the section tied to swivel or ring in the middle is more suitable for pop-ups (MY thinking) Of course you could make life a whole lot simpler and simply make a hinge in a coated braid Plastic Child safe scissors cut the plastic coating of a braid fairly easily so you don't have to strip it totally

Ok, so you are fishing over a pretty standard bottom, either silt with a few sticks, leaves and twigs, or a gravel bar. On the silty patch you gradually pull back to straighten the hooklink, and as it straightens you pull the hookpoint into a twig or leaf on the lakebed. Or on the gravel patch that you are fishing you pull the hooklink straight, and as you do so you pull the lead and it moves the hook taking the point off the hook as it rubs against stones. Also when you straighten or tweak the rig back, how far do you actually move it? Simon Crow and Rob Hughes actually checked how much movement there was on just tightening down by hand. In some cases the lead was moved by as much as 30centimetres from the point of impact on the lakebed. Far enough to pull it into weed or off your feature. Or another example; You gradually reel down to feel the lead, which is tight on the bottom, either slightly plugged in silt, or tight to a stone. You add a little extra effort to move it, and the lead just pops free, and moves further than you think as it is then effectively on a piece of elastic. That movement could take it away from the "right" spot. Feathering the cast does NOT necessarily straighten the hooklink out. Read my previous post , you CANNOT make a light hooklink fall faster through water than the lead The hooklink will fall around the lead unless it is stiff and pushed away from the lead someway

Why worry about it? A braided rig to me works on the fact that it is not straightened, and is close to the lead. It allows the fish more movement with the hook and bait in the mouth, a straightened hooklink is almost relying on the fish trying to move away to hook itself As Andy says, when casting feather it down near contact and the hooklink "slides" past the lead and enters the water. No matter what though, as the lead falls faster through the water the hooklink will fall around it. Its not tangling in most cases until you pick the lead up on reeling in. If you want to slow the fall of the hook and link through the water then use a nugget of dissolving foam If you do want it straighter then use a Stick mix. I'm happy with a big stringer of baits around the hook bait and it is "tied " onto the hook and the tubing above the lead. Alternatively you could always go to combi rigs with just a short supple section near the hook and a stiffer boom from the lead end (Ask Moorsey about his Combi Link that works for him, mine is a bit different)

Way to get a rough estimate is to tie a length of wool from the (marker) lead back up the mainline and leave it out for a few minutes. It will be at an angle as you tighten down the line, but should be enough to work with. Running leads and softer more supple hooklinks for me every time. I don't like using Helicopter set-ups unless I absolutely have to.

You probably didn't get a reply because you were so specific with ESP tube on the other thread. It can take a few days for someone who has the particular information you asked to get onto the forum. Even your headline question on this thread is misleading,, it is only because I usually read EVERY post that I even bothered reading this thread at all The best Shrink tube is NOT bought from a Tackle shop at all! Go into Maplins and have a look at the 1.4mm, or go to Mo's Co on e-bay or and have a look at the shrink tube he sells. In my view those are the best and I do use B175's, but very rarely use shrink tube on them